Phoenixville council votes to advertise redistricted wards

PHOENIXVILLE — After months of studying maps and population figures, the borough’s political ward redistricting committee made its presentation to borough council with what could be the final redrawn lines at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Larry Tillotson and Mike Kuznar, the two members of the committee not sitting at the meeting table Tuesday, gave a short presentation explaining the committee’s objectives, how it went about accomplishing those, and, finally, unveiled their map with the new lines for council to see.

Council members Jennifer Mayo and Christopher Bauers were also both on the committee, as well as Mayor Leo Scoda.

“Our big mission was to redistribute the population as easily as possible and in accordance with borough code and with guidelines provided by our borough solicitor,” Tillotson said.

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The North Ward, which was, by far, the largest of the four, showed a population of 5,240 in the 2010 census while the other wards (East, Middle and West) were not even close to eclipsing 4,000.

“We feel it’s fairly unfair for North Ward borough council members to have to represent more residents, to have more issues, more problems,” to represent, Tillotson said.

As such, the committee was tasked with shaving population out of the North Ward and shifting borders to make all wards similar in population.

According to Tillotson, with Phoenixville’s total population at 16,440 the target population for each ward was 4,110.

With the committee’s recommendations, they came pretty close.

Under the new wards, the North Ward would remain the largest district, but with 4,132 residents, it would carry a population advantage of just 39 people over the population of 4,093 of the South Ward, the smallest of the four.

Of the changes proposed, the largest involve moving the West Ward’s border up to Mowere Road, absorbing a significant portion of Precinct 3 of the North Ward. Additionally, Starr Street would likely become the eastern border of the Middle Ward, squaring off that tract of land.

The main motivations for the population shifts were to keep wards “contiguous” and to bunch similar concerns of certain neighborhoods together.

However, the committee was prohibited from making their decisions based on certain things.

“We weren’t allowed to take into account where a new polling place would be,” Mayo said.

The location fo where current council members live was also not allowed to be taken into account, in a committee meeting, Tillotson noted that no current council members would be switching wards under the recommended new lines.

Following the presentation, the council voted unanimously to advertise the new changes.

After the advertisement, the council will likely vote on whether or not to approve the changes at the regular meeting Nov. 13.

Borough Solicitor Andrew Rau said the map would head to Chester County Voter Services after that vote, if approved. There, the borough’s polling places could be kept the same or possibly moved.

When asked whether challenges could be made to the new wards, Rau said it was possible, but that the committee’s work put the new wards “squarely within the law.”

“I think those would be difficult things,” to challenge, he said.

Along with the presentation, Tillotson said the committee recommended the East Ward be renamed the South Ward since that area curls under the borough even more now due to the recommendations.

Council President Richard Kirkner commended the redistricting committee for their hard work and dedications over the last several months.

“I’m really proud that the redistricting committee did such a fantastic job with a minimal amount of change to the residents,” Mayo said after the meeting.

About the Author

Frank Otto is a general assignment reporter covering Phoenixville, Limerick and Spring-Ford schools in addition to features and spot news. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Otto moonlights with the sports department on occasion. Reach the author at fotto@pottsmerc.com
or follow Frank on Twitter: @fottojourno.